Adapter for typewriter machines



Nov. 30, 1965 P. A. PLATO 3,220,663

ADAPTER FOR TYPEWRITER MACHINES Filed Jan. 6. 1964 INVENTOR. PHILLIP A. PLATO United States Patent Ofiiice 3,220,663

Patented Nov. 30, 1965 3,220,663 ADAPTER FOR TYPEWRITER MACHINES Phillip A. Plato, 6823 SW. 25th St., ll Iiami, Fla. Filed Jan. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 335,998 7 Claims. (Cl. 24271.8)

This invention relates to an adapter for use with an electric typewriter and, more particularly, to an adapter wheel onto which a roll of typing ribbon may be passed and re-used by placing the adapter wheel on the typewriter in a feeding position.

As is perhaps well known, many of the currently popular models of electric typewriters employ carbon-coated, disposable paper tape which is used only once, being passed through a typewriter from a feeding wheel on one side of the machine to a receiving wheel on the other side of the machine and, as it passes the center of the machine, it is hit by a type key to cause an impression on a paper in the carriage of the machine. Such tapes can be used several times; however, the feeding wheel and the receiving wheel are not interchangeable so that, after one pass through the typewriter, the tape is discarded.

It is an object of this invention to provide an adapter for temporary positioning on the receiving wheel which adapter can be transferred to the other side of the machine, so that, when the machine is in use a roll of used tape may be caught on the adapter positioned on the receiving wheel and when the supply has been used and received on the adapter, transferred to the feeding wheel on the other side of the machine so that the tape may be reused.

It is another object of this invention to provide a diskshaped adapter wheel for attachment to either the feeding or receiving wheels of a typewriter for catching typewriter ribbons after they have been passed through a machine, which adapter is provided with a centrally-disposed cutout portion with diametrically-opposed arcuate cut-outs and in diametrical opposition a slot and a hole which are disposed in 90 degrees angular relation with respect to the common center-line of the arcuate cut-outs, so that the adapter can be positioned on either the feeding or receiving wheel.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an adapter of the type described hereinafter which is rela tively simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, and adapted for use on either the feeding or receiving wheel of conventional and current models of typewriter machines which use ribbons which are ordinarily discarded after one pass through the machine but which may be reused when received on the adapter.

In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the instant invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment thereof.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of an open typewriter;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the instant adapter;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a view of the conventional typewriter tape receiving wheel for paper ribbons including the cover plate 5 thereon and the adapter of FIGURE 2, which wheel wheel is generally located as designated by the arrow 5;

FIGURE 6 is a view of the conventional typewriter tape feeding wheel including the adapter of FIGURE 2 which is generally located as designated by the arrow 6;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 with the cover plate 5 removed and without the adapter of the instant invention; and

FIGURE 8 is a rear view of the cover plate 5 with the adapter shown in dotted lines.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the different views, and referring particularly to FIGURE 1, the numeral 11 generally designates a typewriter including the carriage 12, the keyboard 13, and including a carbon-coated ribbon 14 which passes from a feeding or dispensing wheel 16 across the central typing slot 17 and onto a driven tape-receiving wheel 18. Referring to FIGURE 6, feeding wheel 16 includes a back-up plate 19 having a central axle 20 which has three equidistant propeller projections 21, 22 and 23 to receive a conventional ribbon supply disk. In the conventional machine, the ribbon-like tape of the conventional ribbon supply disk is wound in a spool around the periphery of a disk and fed through the machine as indicated in FIGURE 1 to the tape-receiving wheel which comprises the cover plate 5 and the back-up plate 24. As seen in FIGURES 5, 6, 7 and 8, the backup plate 24 is provided with two locator pins 26 and 27 on opposite sides of a center pin 28. As seen in FIG- URE 8, the cover plate 5 includes a projecting pair of bosses 29 and 31 forming a pair of arcuate shoulders 32 and 33 and a center hole 70 therein. The cover plate is cut on opposed sides forming the parabolic shaped edges 34 and 35. In the usual operation, a conventional ribbon supply is provided in a spool around the periphery of a disk having a hole in the center so that it can be positioned on the axle 20 for rotation therewith. The tape 14 is fed through the machine and simply looped under one of the pins 26 or 27 of the receiving wheel. The shoulders 32 and 33 of the cover plate 5 provides a surface onto which the used ribbon is fed as an operator types and a supply of tape is used up. In the conventional practice the used supply wheel is removed from the axble 20 and a new one is supplied and, with respect to the receiving wheel 18, the cover plate 5 is removed and the used tape is discarded.

The adapter 41 of this invention, to be described more fully in the next paragraph, is adapted to be received on either the feeding wheel 16 or on the receiving wheel 18 so that tape passed through the machine and used once may be wound on the adapter 41 and transferred to the feeding wheel for another pass through the typewriter.

The instant invention comprising the adapter which may be positioned on either the feeding wheel or the receiving wheel is best seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4. It comprises a disk-shaped wheel 42 with a flanged periphery 43 and a central web 44. The central web is provided with a cut-out having opposed arcuate edges 46 and 43 which parallel the periphery of the adapter with the limits 50, 52 and 54, 56 of the arcuate edges each being joined by an arcuate shoulder 58 and 60, which shoulders curve inwardly toward the center and thence outwardly to the opposing limits respectively. In other words, the cutout portion has diametrically opposed fan-shaped openings with outermost arcuate edges 46 and 48 which are joined by arcuate shoulders 58 and 60 which form a constricted neck portion within the cutout portion. At degrees to the common centerline of the opposed arcuate cut-out areas, a pair of diametrically opposed radial slots 62 and 64 are provided in the web 44 and a bridge 66 is provided across one of the slots to close it and to form a hole. An outer cylindrically-shaped cover or coating 68 may be provided over the periphery of the wheel to provide a frictional surface. With reference to FIGURE 6, it is seen that to supply used tape the adapter may be positioned over the propeller-like projections with one of the propellers 23 being received in the open slot 62 and the other two propellers 21, and 22 embracing the arcuate shoulders of the bridged slot. Alternatively and with reference to FIGURE 5, the adapter may be positioned to catch new or used tape by passing it over the shoulders 32 and 33 of the cover plate so that the shoulders of the arcuate sections 46 and 48 abut them and with one of the pins 27 of the back-up plate 24 being received in the slot 62 and the opposed pin 26 of the backup plate being received in the hole 64.

The operation of the machine is standard with the adapter with the exception that the used tape is received on the adapter and may be transferred to the feeding wheel to be used again.

While the instant invention has been shown and described herein in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is therefore not to be limited to the details disclosed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent apparatus and articles.

What is claimed is:

1. An adapter for use on either the feeding or receiving typewriter ribbon wheels on typewriters to catch and reuse typewriter ribbons comprising; a disk having a central opening including diametrically-opposed arcuate edges which extend outwardly forming an edge adjacent to and conforming to the periphery of the disk with the termini of the respective opposed edges each being joined by an arcuate shoulder, which curves from each set of opposed termini toward the center and thence to the opposed terminal, each of said shoulders having a slot in diametrical opposition to the other with the diametrical center-line of the slots being at an angle of substantially 90 degrees with respect to the diametrical center-line of the areas of the arcuate openings, and a bridge in one shoulder closing one of the slots;

2. For interchangeable use either (a) on the feeding wheel of a typewriter having a back-up plate and including an axle with three equidistant projections extending radially from the axle or (b) on the receiving wheel of a typewriter having (1) a back-up plate with a pair of diametrically-opposed pins and a center pin and (2) a cover plate with a central hole, opposed arcuate bosses extending perpendicular to the plane of the plate and opposed arcuate cut-outs in the plate, the said receiving back-up plate and cover plate being normally mated in use with the center pin in the hole and the bosses extending toward the back-up plate; an adapter comprising; a wheel having a flanged periphery and a web, said web having a central cut-out area of arcuate form defining opposed edges parallel to the flanged periphery, the said edges of each opposed edge terminating at points such that the edges are adapted to receive the bosses, the opposed terminal points of the edges being connected by a curved shoulder surface curving inwardly toward the center of the wheel and then outwardly respectively to the respective terminals of the opposed edge, each of the shoulders having a radially-extending and diametrically-opposed slot to each receive one of the opposed pins therethrough when on the receiving wheel or, when on the feeding wheel to receive one of the projections in one of the slots with the two remaining projections embracing the shoulder.

3. An adapter as in claim 2 wherein a bridge is provided across one of the slots defining an open slot and a closed slot so that when the adapter is on the feeding wheel one of the projections is received in the open slot and the two remaining projections embrace the shoulder having the closed slot.

4. For interchangeable use either (a) on the feeding wheel of a typewriter having a back-up plate and an axle with three quidistant projections extending outwardly in a radial direction from the axle or (b) on the receiving wheel of a typewrtier having (1) a back-up plate with a pair of diametrically-opposed pins and a center pin and (2) a cover plate with a central hole, opposed arcuate bosses extending perpendicularly with respect to the plane of the plate and opposed arcuate cut-outs in the plate, the said receiving back-up plate and cover plate being normally mated in use with the center pin in the hole and the bosses extending toward the back-up plate; an adapter comprising; a wheel having a flanged periphery and a web, said web having a central cut-out area defining connected arcuate-shaped areas with opposed outer edges parallel to the flanged periphery, the said outer edges of each opposed edge being terminated at points which are on a radius aligned substantially 90 degrees with respect to one another, the said points being connected by a curved shoulder surface which curves inwardly toward the center of the wheel and thence outwardly respectively to the respective points of the opposed edge, each shoulder having a diametrically-opposed slot in each of the shoulders with the center-line of the slots being aligned substantially 90 degrees with respect to the medial point of the outer edges.

5. A11 adapter wheel as set forth in claim 4 wherein a cylindrically-shaped cover is disposed over the periphery.

6. A circular spool adapted for use on either the dispensing or receiving typewriter ribbon reels, comprising; a circular core having a central opening having smooth arcuate edges including diametrically opposed fan-shaped openings extending outward in opposite directions from said central opening with a constricted neck portion between said fan-shaped openings, a pair of slots in diametrical opposition to one another within the core in the area of the neck portion for receiving a pair of drive pins, said neck portion being sized to receive a Y-shaped drive member wherein one leg enters one of the slots and the other two legs engage one of the constructed arcuate edges opposite said one slot, the fan-shaped openings being sized to receive a tape guiding, cover plate, portion, for guiding a typewriter ribbon onto the core.

7. A circular spool adapted for use on either the dispensing or receiving typewriter ribbon reels comprising; a circular core; and a cover disposed over the peripheral surface of said core, said core including a central opening for connecting said core to a back-up plate, said central opening having smooth arcuate edges including, diametrically opposed fan-shaped openings extending outward in opposite directions from said central opening with the outer arcuate edges being parallel to the periphery of said core, said outer arcuate edges being sized to receive a boss on a cover plate, a constricted neck portion in said central opening lying on opposite sides of the longitudinal center line of the outwardly extending fan-shaped openings for receiving a central spindle having a plurality of arms, said center line passing through the center of said spool, and a slot in each neck portion of said core with a common longitudinal center line passing through the center of said spool for receiving drive pins, one of said slots being sized for receiving an arm of said center spindle, whereby said core is adapted to engage a plurality of typewriter drive means of various configurations.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,476,928 7/ 1949 Thomas 2427l.8 2,831,6 4/1958 Rookus 24271.8 X 3,042,180 7/1962 Bishop.

MERVIN STEIN Primary Ex r. 

1. AN ADAPTER FOR USE ON EITHER THE FEEDING OR RECEIVING TYPEWRITER RIBBON WHEELS ON TYPEWRITERS TO CATCH AND REUSE TYPEWRITER RIBBONS COMPRISING; A DISK HAVING A CENTRAL OPENING INCLUDING DIAMETRICALLY-OPPOSED ARCUATE EDGES WHICH EXTEND OUTWARDLY FORMING AN EDGE ADJACENT TO AND CONFORMING TO THE PERIPHERY OF THE DISK WITH THE TERMINI OF THE RESPECTIVE OPPOSED EDGES EACH BEING JOINED BY AN ARCUATE SHOULDER, WHICH CURVES FROM EACH SET OF OPPOSED TERMINI TOWARD THE CENTER AND THENCE TO THE OPPOSED TERMINAL, EACH OF SAID SHOULDERS HAVING A SLOT IN DIAMETRICAL OPPOSITION TO THE OTHER WITH THE DIAMETRICAL CENTER-LINE OF THE SLOTS BEING AT AN ANGLE OF SUBSTANTIALLY 